Why hello there! Long time, no see. My fault, of course. Sorry about that. Here at Tooth & Nail / Solid State, we like to work hard and play hard. So of course after the awesome craziness that was August Burns Red’s “Leveler” – which, if you haven’t heard came out at #11 on the Billboard charts – Scott and I decided to reward ourselves with a nice little 4th of July vacation with a bunch of our friends to sunny California.

Well who should happen to be in the Golden State at that exact time but our pals in August Burns Red! What a happy coincidence! The Warped Tour was posted up at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View the day we flew in. Obviously we had to make a pit stop to say hello and congratulations to the band on an absolutely face-melting new album.

It was a perfect day and the dudes absolutely killed their set. It’s maybe hard to explain the type of pride that comes along with being able to literally see the results of so much hard work and passion from people you care a lot about. We are so grateful for and appreciative of our bands and the effort that goes into creating an album and touring and all the things that comprise being a band.

Personally, I feel lucky every day to be able to do what I do, and it’s all because of people like August Burns Red. The least we could do was give them a small token of our gratitude.

So congratulations again to ABR and [shameless self-promotion coming] if you haven’t picked up “Leveler” yet, it’s available in stores and online now! Download it on the interwebs at iTunes or Amazon MP3.